781: Chapter 781 Groundbreaking Ceremony Alarm

Shenzhen, top-floor office of Starry Sky Technology.

Chu Qianlan tapped his fingertips on the desk, watching the announcement on the holographic screen about Tencent officially discontinuing updates for pp software. His eyes were calm and waveless, as if he were simply looking at the most ordinary piece of industry news.

Du Guangbai walked into the office excitedly, unable to hide the joy on his face, his footsteps noticeably lighter. "CEO Chu! Tencent has officially announced they are stopping updates for pp software! The whole internet is exploding. StarChat has now completely secured the top spot in domestic social media; we have no rivals left!"

He walked quickly to the large holographic screen, pointing at the scrolling trending data, his tone excited. "Look, the hashtags 'StarChat Unifies the Social Media World' and 'The End of an Era' are all trending."

"With Tencent stopping updates, it's equivalent to handing over their last batch of existing users to us directly. Conservatively estimated, StarChat's daily active users will increase by another 20% over the next three months!"

Chu Qianlan raised his eyes to look at the big screen, his expression remaining calm. He gave a faint "Hmm." "We had already created a generational gap with pp software in terms of technology, ecosystem, and experience long ago. Stopping updates now is just a graceful exit. If they had dragged it out for another year or two, Tencent would have inevitably gone bankrupt."

Du Guangbai nodded repeatedly, the joy on his face practically overflowing. "You are absolutely right! Tencent is just admitting defeat to save their own skin. Now, in the entire Long Kingdom social market, StarChat dominates, and there are no rivals capable of putting up a fight!"

He paused, then added, "It's not just domestically; the overseas version of StarChat has also gained a huge wave of users thanks to this buzz. It's spreading like wildfire in Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, and among Chinese communities in Europe and America. Many foreigners are starting to register. Our pace of globalization has suddenly accelerated so much!"

Chu Qianlan tapped the holographic screen, enlarging the growth curve of StarChat's domestic and overseas users. Pale blue data streams flowed slowly across the screen, clearly marking the peak of new users per hour.

"The growth of overseas users is just the beginning." His tone was calm, yet carried the certainty of someone who understood the whole picture. "Tencent abandoning pp software is not just the end of the domestic social media market, but a new starting point for StarChat's globalization."

Du Guangbai's eyes lit up, and he immediately bowed. "CEO Chu, do you mean... we should take advantage of this buzz to accelerate the launch of all features for the global version of StarChat?"

Previously, the overseas version of StarChat had only opened partial features like chat and voice calls. Some unique features had not been fully released, as they were waiting for an opportunity to completely ignite the global market.

Now that pp software had stopped updates and the whole internet was buzzing about StarChat's rise to the top, public opinion had reached its peak—this was the perfect time to roll out the globalization strategy fully.

Chu Qianlan nodded slightly, his fingertips tracing a smooth arc on the holographic screen, instantly spreading out the StarChat global architecture diagram before them. "That's right. Taking advantage of this buzz, the overseas version of StarChat will launch all features immediately."

"AI intelligent translation, cross-server interconnection, short video social networking, interstellar mini-games, and enterprise office suites—all modules will be opened."

Du Guangbai was exhilarated upon hearing this and quickly pulled out his tablet to make notes. "Understood! I will notify the global technical team immediately to complete the full-feature deployment within 72 hours, max out the server bandwidth, and withstand this burst of traffic!"

...

The negative publicity surrounding Tencent, combined with the discontinuation of updates for pp software, dominated the entire Long Kingdom internet discourse; even abroad, these were hot topics.

As for the disappearance of the Fusang coast guard ship and the rumors about Xinghai Group possessing mysterious weapons, they had long since been drowned out by the multitude of other news.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, the new year arrived.

The Hengxing Aerospace Base in Magic City was bustling with activity. The giant, silver-white Nuclear Fusion dome shimmered under the winter morning sun. The doors of the magnificent final assembly plant were wide open, and a giant gantry crane spanned the entire dust-free assembly workshop.

On the auspicious day of New Year's Day, the final assembly commencement ceremony for the deep space ii spacecraft was held as scheduled. There was no extravagant media hype; attendance was limited to the core backbone of the entire Xinghai Group supply chain and the research leads from each laboratory.

Chu Qianlan, dressed in a simple dark suit, walked slowly to the center of the ceremony platform. Jiang Tao of Hengxing Aerospace, Qu Feng of Xingyuan Exploration, Ma Yuanlong of Starry Sky Technology, and Du Guangbai of Xinghai Technology stood on both sides. More than forty crew members specifically trained for deep space one were also invited to attend, their eyes burning as they gazed at the spacecraft assembly project about to begin.

There were also over 400 security personnel stationed at various guard points around the perimeter of the venue. Three layers of security defenses were deployed, with infrared early warning systems, drone patrols, and hidden sentry posts on full-time watch, preventing any unauthorized personnel from approaching the final assembly commencement ceremony.

There were no fireworks or extravagant red carpets at the ceremony site. Instead, there were neatly stacked raw body segments of deep space ii, with various core components arranged tidily beside the dust-free workstations. The giant gantry crane hung silently directly above the main assembly line, its silver-gray metal components gleaming with a cold industrial luster in the morning light.

Jiang Tao stepped forward. "CEO Chu, after months of tackling key problems, the entire supply chain support, including Hanxing Materials, Hengchuan Machinery, and the Xingyuan Laboratory, has fulfilled their contracts on schedule."

"The four core components—the Nuclear Fusion energy module, ion propulsion assembly, composite portholes, and airborne Supercomputer—have all been accepted into storage after passing inspection. The entire system's blueprints have undergone multiple rounds of simulation verification by Nuwa, with zero design defects. All conditions for final assembly have been met."

Chu Qianlan nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the research backbone and special training crew members beside him. His voice, steady and calm, echoed throughout the entire assembly workshop. "Today, the final assembly of deep space ii officially begins, marking the transition of our Nuclear Fusion aerospace spacecraft from blueprints to physical construction."

"In the future, this spacecraft will not only be the first commercial Nuclear Fusion spacecraft of the Long Kingdom, but also the trailblazer for our journey to the moon and into deep space."

As his voice fell, the R&D, production, and security personnel on site all straightened their backs, and the applause rang out, shaking the factory building.

The enthusiastic applause echoed for a long time within the giant assembly plant, as the metal dome refracted the sound layer by layer, lingering for a long time.

When the applause gradually died down, Chu Qianlan raised his hand to signal for silence, his gaze falling on the giant gantry crane and the raw ship body segments to one side. He raised his hand and issued the commencement order. "Initiate the hoisting of the deep space ii segments. The final assembly has officially begun!"

The giant gantry crane's motor hummed and roared, and the steel cables slowly tightened. The keel segment, weighing several tons, was lifted steadily, moved slowly through the air, and precisely aligned with the reference point of the main assembly line.

Ground intelligent transport vehicles orderly pushed forward the semi-finished energy modules and airborne Supercomputer cabinets. Workers, working with intelligent robotic arms and following the assembly parameters issued in real-time by Nuwa, carried out the pre-assembly process methodically.

Just when everyone thought the commencement ceremony had been successfully completed, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded throughout the entire factory area.